CPP fund reaches $392 billion at 2019 fiscal year-end

Staff | May 16, 2019

The Canada Pension Plan fund ended its fiscal year on March 31, 2019, with net assets of $392 billion, compared to $356.1 billion at the end of fiscal year 2018.

The $35.9 billion increase was made up of $32 billion in net income and $3.9 billion in net CPP contributions. Overall, the fund’s return for the year was 8.9 per cent net of all costs. Emerging public market equities dropped to negative 1.7 per cent in 2019, from 18.6 per cent in 2018, while private emerging equities fund returns also decreased, from 19.5 per cent in 2018 to 11.8 per cent in 2019.

“The CPPIB continues to deliver strong absolute and relative returns, and our robust 10-year performance demonstrates our long-term contribution to the sustainability of the CPP,” said Mark Machin, president and chief executive officer of the CPPIB, in a press release. “We have gradually built a diversified, global investment platform and focused on executing our multi-year strategy. These are key drivers of our financial performance and our future success.”

In the five-year period up to and including fiscal 2019, the CPPIB has contributed $152 billion in cumulative net income to the fund after its costs. Since it was formed in 1999, it has contributed $247.6 billion on a net basis.

“The role of diversification came through clearly this year, and we were encouraged to see nearly all investment departments contributed positively to our results,” said Machin. “The CPPIB’s investment teams also took advantage of our international reach and competitive strengths to pursue select transactions as well as explore new areas of growth.”